


Exit Strategy

by china_shop



Category: White Collar
Genre: Bad Guy POV, Episode Related, Gen, fixit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-07
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 19:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7119409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/china_shop/pseuds/china_shop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She still wasn’t sure if she could trust him, and she had to find out fast. (Missing scene from 1.03.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exit Strategy

**Author's Note:**

> This feels a bit like trying to spackle a cobweb, and I'm not sure it stands up to scrutiny any more than the episode did, but anyway. 
> 
> For wc_rewatch. Thanks to mergatrude for beta. <3

The second he cut his tracker, there on the side of the street, Maria knew something was wrong. If the infamous Neal Caffrey were going to engage in illegal dealings under the FBI’s unwitting nose, he would have done it smarter, not burned his bridges within twenty feet of a surveillance detail. 

Unless she was being paranoid. Not everyone was a two-faced snake like Paul Ignazio, first plying her with flattery, then turning around to cheat her and laugh in her face at the same time. Not everyone deserved a bullet. But a lot of men were and did, and she had very little time to decide which camp Neal Caffrey fell into.

He was beautiful, young and smart, he flirted with wit and charm, and his wandering hands had been extremely distracting during their long-awaited kiss. If he was playing on her side of the law too, he’d be a dream come true. With his talents and her knowledge and contacts, they could gather the choicest treasures of the world and replace them all with forgeries so no one would ever know. But she still wasn’t sure if she could trust him, and she had to find out. She smiled and touched his chest. “With all due respect, Neal, we could make quite a fine pair.”

He looked unimpressed. “With all due respect, Maria, shut up and drive.”

Well, that was promising, at least: he had some vestige of self-preservation. They got into the car and took off, and Maria said a silent goodbye to her job at Brooklyn State, her apartment, even her beloved Mercedes. Now she was suspected of murder and was openly helping Caffrey evade the FBI, there was no going back. She tore through some traffic lights as they turned red and hung a left. “Europe or Asia?”

“What?” Neal was sideways in his seat, craning to see their pursuers through the rear window. 

“I presume you brought a passport,” said Maria. “I can get us to an airport, but if you don’t have an alternative identity ready—”

He cut her off. “Let’s make the exchange first. I want to see the book.”

“And then what?” She stared at him, trying to determine if anything he was saying was true.

“Eyes on the road,” he said, sharply, pointing through the windshield. 

Maria felt a cool weight descend. “Right.” She sped up.

So that was how it was. She’d have to get his money, get rid of him and make her escape before the Feds caught up with them. Right now, that was the only way out.

 

END


End file.
